DATE: Thursday, May 8, 1997                 TAG: 9705080010

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B12  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Letter 

                                            LENGTH:   99 lines

LETTERS [TO THE EDITORS -- THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT]

So the Endependence Center is upset that Virginia Beach has decided to not contribute $45,000+ to its budget this year. Makes sense. After all, the center does need to pay the attorneys' fees in its suit against the city and the amphitheater.

They really shouldn't worry, however. Mayor Oberndorf has said ``returning the funding to the organization will be a top priority'' for her. It is amazing to see how this council continues to squander taxpayer money!

Gordon Degges

Virginia Beach, April 28, 1997 NORFOLK Trucks, coal dust mar life in Ghent

Four years ago, I bought a 90-year-old home in Ghent, which I have been renovating. When folks ask me if I would recommend others to buy in Ghent, I have to say, ``Only if they don't mind tractor-trailer convoys flying up and down through residential areas or cleaning layers of Norfolk Southern's coal dust off of everything they own.''

I live near Hampton Boulevard and am appalled not only at the tractor-trailer traffic but all the traffic exceeding the posted 30-mile speed limit. While tractor trailers are limited to using Hampton Boulevard from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m., they do it anyway. I am often awakened by the noise.

The Virginia Department of Transportation expects truck traffic to grow from 800 to 1,600 trucks per day. What's with our city officials who allow this outrageousness to continue?

As for the coal dust, my understanding is that Norfolk Southern could take measures to contain the coal dust but for obvious reasons (money, money, money) does nothing. The city fathers also seem unwilling to approach that Goliath. One then wonders: Where is the Environmental Protection Agency? My grandmother use to say, ``We are all going to eat a peck of dirt before we die.'' Here in Norfolk, we are likely to eat and breathe coal dust about ``a peck a year.''

Betty Xander

Norfolk, April 26, 1997 VIRGINIA BEACH Sandbridge deserves sand, protection

How can anyone say, yes, let's have hurricane protection at the Oceanfront, but nothing for Sandbridge?

Sandbridge residents were sold building permits and have paid taxes from Day One. The Oceanfront gets sand every year, along with whatever it needs to keep it from washing away. Sandbridge got sand once back in 1963.

Hundreds of tourists come to stay at Sandbridge (and the owners who rent out their homes pay even more taxes) and go to all the malls, restaurants and tourist spots. Sandbridge beach is packed all summer.

These people have paid the taxes that made the improvements where you live, too. Maybe we should reimburse all taxes to Sandbridge residents and let them pay for their own sand.

Crystal Mullen

Virginia Beach, April 29, 1997 SPORTS Court ruling is no win for colleges

With that inane ruling on women's college athletics, the illustrious Supreme Court justices have done it again. They have obviously lost perspective on the role of college athletics.

First of all, a college's varsity athletic programs do much more than simply provide an outlet for the spirit of competition. They provide a source of revenue, and in many schools that revenue is vital to keeping athletic programs in operation. Like it or not, men's sports will always be the biggest drawing cards. In the big football schools, in fact, the repeated sellouts finance virtually the entire varsity program and help other programs and anyone who thinks that women's sports will ever compensate for that revenue needs a reality check.

Second, colleges are academic institutions, believe it or not. As an adjunct professor at three area colleges, with a daughter enrolled at one, I know only too well the budgetary constraints under which these institutions operate as I watch class after class being canceled. This incredibly ridiculous decision means that already scarce funding will have to be diverted from academic programs - not only to establish more female sports but to recruit athletes at the expense of those more academically qualified.

While your April 22 headline proclaims this decision ``a win for women's athletics,'' let's remember who will pay the price.

Michael F. Cohen

Virginia Beach, April 27, 1997 TELEVISION What's the big deal?

For years we have endured the Paul Lynde-type gay man on television. They are supposed to be funny. But let a woman openly be gay and it causes a national panic. I am glad to know of the short-sighted companies that refused to air commercials on ``Ellen,'' because I will make an effort to stay away from their products. I thought the show was well-done.

Pamela Kiernan

Norfolk, May 1, 1997

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